About this week's header photo - Wednesday, February 8

When we create the NEPA Blogs header image each week, we're looking for an image that is a good deal wider than the typical-ish 4:3 aspect ratio of most cameras. All the header images are set to a standard width of 920 pixels at 72 pixels per inch. The goal is to have a header image which will also allow the Twitter updates and part of the most recent post to be displayed on a typical screen. Recent images, as submitted or after cropping, have had aspect ratios (width:height) of anywhere from 1.63:1 to 2.65:1.

Often photos - particularly casual snapshots, more so than professionally framed photos - have some elements that can be trimmed without losing the essence of the image. Different crops can actually be used to shift the focus of the photo. Is it about the central image? The ground below? The sky above? I advise people ahead of time that we will be cropping to try to get close to a 2:1 aspect ratio, though some people submit their photos in an aspect ratio that approaches this.

Lorraine from We are clamco recently submitted two images for the header. Both were breathtaking images taken on the Penn State Lehman campus right after the October 2011 snowstorm. They had aspect ratios of 1.595:1 and 1.566:1, respectively, and really could have been acceptable as-is - a few weeks ago we ran one at 1.63:1. But my knee-jerk reaction was to start looking for what I could trim without mutilating the photo.

And I couldn't find anything.

In the end I shaved an eensy bit off the top and a little more at the bottom, but I didn't feel good about it. I adjusted the aspect ratio to 1.75:1, which really isn't that big of a change.

So I am sharing here the original photo, resized a bit. It was originally 3264 pixels by 2046 pixels at 300 pixels per inch, which is pretty huge. This version is 920 pixels by 577 pixels at 72 pixels per inch. But it contains the entire gorgeous image as submitted by Lorraine. Enjoy!